And the nominees are…
I’m still trying to process all the information that was just thrown at me by Seth MacFarlane and Emma Stone (who did a great job hosting the announcement, I must say). If you want to find out about who’s nominated for the 85th Academy Awards, go here.
Now for random thoughts about the selections:
- I thought there were a couple of sure things. Some panned out (Daniel Day-Lewis, Anne Hathaway). Some, very surprisingly, didn’t (no Intouchables for ‘Foreign Language Film’; no Kathryn Bigelow or Ben Affleck for ‘Best Director’)
- A couple records have been set, both in the ‘Best Actress’ race: we have our youngest nominee ever, 9 year-old Quvenzhané Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild), and our oldest, Emanuelle Riva (Amour). She’s 85.
- A disappointment came in that same category. After her ridiculous death scene in The Dark Knight Rises, Marion Cotillard redeemed herself with one of the year’s finest performances in De Rouille et D’Os. Sadly, no Oscar love this time.
- The year’s biggest foreign film got a lot of “Amour” from the Academy in many categories. Refreshing.
- As Emma Stone pointed out, all the nominees for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ are previous Oscar winners.
- New people enter the prestigious ‘Oscar Nominee’ club and I’m happy they do: Bradley Cooper, Adele and Hugh Jackman
- It was a mixed bag, but it’s surprising not to see Cloud Atlas in the ‘Makeup’ category
- Seth MacFarlane not only hosting but up for an award for ‘Best Original Song’? Seriously? I mean, the tune is good but certainly not Oscar-worthy. Still, worse songs have actually won.
- Happy second nomination, Jennifer Lawrence and Jessica Chastain!
- Leonardo DiCaprio keeps getting snubbed. Is it personal?
- John Hawkes and his performance in The Sessions got edged out of the ‘Best Actor’ race.
- In “his place” is Joaquin Phoenix, who managed to get another nod, even after he said the Oscars were “bullshit”. A testament to the power of his work in the PTA-directed film.
- Amy Adams deservedly gets her 4th nomination in 7 years. All have been in the ‘Best Supporting Actress’ category.
- Nice comeback, Helen Hunt!
- The minimum was 5 and maximum was 10, but this year the contenders for ‘Best Picture’ are 9.
- Two of the most visually striking films of the year, Skyfall and Life of Pi, are up for ‘Best Cinematography’ (and rightfully so)
- Both of this year’s Snow White movies, Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman are nominated for ‘Costume Design’. Haven’t seen the former, but the latter was complete trash, except for visuals and yes, the very cool costumes by Colleen Atwood.
- With his first feature, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin nabs a ‘Best Director’ nomination and beats Kathryn Bigelow, Ben Affleck, Quentin Tarantino and Tom Hooper who, surprisingly, did not get into that race
- Latin America gets a nomination in the ‘Foreign Language Film’ category for the Chilean No, starring Mexican thespian Gael García Bernal
- Life of Pi and Prometheus for ‘Best Visual Effects’. Yay.
- The Academy sometimes gives out its “edgier” nominations in the ‘Writing’ categories. Sadly, no Perks of Being a Wallflower or Looper.
- Moonrise Kingdom only got one nomination: ‘Best Original Screenplay’. No nod for ‘Cinematography’? WTF?
So, what surprised you the most? Which snub, which inclusion? Which choice by the Academy makes you happiest? Please share your thoughts on the most recent crop of nominees in the comments section!
I asked the exact same question about Leo DiCaprio! Is it personal? He better get an Oscar one of these days because whether people like it or not, the man is talented. Very talented.
I wondered why Ben Affleck wasn’t nominated for best director, too.
Thanks for the run down!
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You’re welcome. About your boyfriend Leo, he’s been nominated before but some of his absolute best work has been sadly overlooked so I have to wonder if the Academy simply does not like him 😦
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hahaha, I wish he was my boyfriend.
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There are some notable omissions this year, very surprised about Bigelow and Affleck not getting nods and the DiCaprio thing is hard luck. I think if it wasn’t for Christoph Waltz, he’d have got in.
Also, I think I’d like Amour to win Best Film but not Best Foreign Film and hear the critics try and work it out 🙂
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Sucks for Leo, he keeps getting snubbed. But at least someone from Django got in. The director snubs were the most baffling to me. Oh and Amour winning BP but not Foreign Film would be crazy and a mess, lol.
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I completely agree with Joaquin Phoenix.
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Yeah, I thought for sure he wouldn’t be nominated for everything he said but hey, very nice of the Aacademy to overlook that and really honor the work.
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Good stuff!!!!
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Thanks, Keith! 😉
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I Was Sooo Pulling For Javier Bardem To Get A Nod For His Exceptionally Creepy Turn In “SKYFALL”…
…So THAT Is My Biggest Snub. 😦
And I Was Kinda Pullin’ For Leo, Also. 😦
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Yeah, the Leo snub is one I’ve seen anger and disappoint many people. Bardem was pretty good in Skyfall but I would’ve loved to see MatthewMcConaughey there for Killer Joe or Pierce Gagnon for Looper.
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Nice round-up Fernando. Glad to see ‘Amour’ considered so widely (can that be considered personal growth for the Academy?). Surprised that ‘The Imposter’ didn’t make the cut for best doc – or ‘This Is Not a Film’ for that matter. Otherwise, nothing was overly flabbergasting; ‘The Master’ deserved nods for Best Picture and Director in my opinion, but not shocked that it was overlooked. Would love to see Emanuelle Riva get best actress but my head says it’ll go to Lawrence.
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Thanks, Ben. It’s surprising to see all the “amour” that film’s, and yeah, you could it say the Academy’s “growing”. Surprised too that The Imposter didn’t make it. I thought The Master would sneak into the BP category but in the end it was too divisive. I don’t think Emanuelle Riva will win but I think it’s fantastic that she got nominated, simply because she’s from a foreign-language film.
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Some thoughts:
Besides the directors you mentioned, where’s Tom Hooper for Les Misérables? 8 nominations but no director? Huh?!
Cloud Atlas didn’t even make the shortlist for consideration a month ago, so no one expected it to be nominated for Makeup.
Leonardo DiCaprio not getting nominated is sad. He was my pick, but I doubt it’s personal. He’s been nominated 3 times before. That’s a lot more than most.
I agree with pretty much all of your disappointments: (The Intouchables, Marion Cotillard,. John Hawkes, Moonrise Kingdom, Perks)
On a positive note: Quvenzhané Wallis getting nominated is pure awesome.
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I actually didn’t know about Cloud Atlas, or forgot about it, some it really came as a surprise this morning that it wasn’t nominated.
I’m sure Hooper did a fantastic job but I didn’t expect him to be nominated this time. Since there can be up to 10 BP nominees and only half of those can be nominated for the Directing category, some were bound to be cut and I thought maybe Hooper would suffer since he won so recently.
Maybe it’s not personal, and I know he’s been nominated before, but I find it baffling that some of the best performances by Leo have been vastly overlooked, even his best IMO (Revolutionary Road). I guess that happens sometimes.
Haven’t seen Beasts (I promise to do so soon) but I also think it’s awesome Quvenzhané got a nod. I would’ve loved for another kid (Pierce Gagnon) to receive a nomination as well but no such luck 😦
And yeah, the Academy hates superhero films. I’ll never understand why The Dark Knight wasn’t up for BP. TDKR wasn’t very good, in my opinion, but it deserved some mentions in the technical categories for sure. The acting was pretty good, too, so a nod for JG-L or Michael Caine wouldn’t have been so bad.
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Oh one more thing. The Dark Knight Rises doesn’t get a single nomination and The Avengers is nominated once – for visual effects. Guess it’s safe to say the Academy hates superhero films.
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Nice post Fernando! I could have predicted Philip Seymour Hoffman getting one even though I haven’t seen The Master. The reason I say that, is because every time he’s worked with Amy Adams he gets nominated. – “Charlie Wilson’s War” and “Doubt”. If I were him, I’d work with her more often. She was also nominated for “Doubt” by the way. It’s a good partnership.
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Thanks. Yeah, that collaboration has proven a lucky one. Hopefully they keep working together. They’re two of my favorite actors. Amy is on fire. She’s been nominated 4 times in 7 years!
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I think this set of Oscar noms was very surprising. No Best Director for Bigelow or Affleck? Huh…. In the BP category, I REALLY want either Lincoln or Les Mis to win. But I have a feeling it’ll be either Amour or Beasts of the Southern Wild. Still DYING to see Argo!!!
http://www.themoviefreakblog.com
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Yeah, like I’ve said before, the director snubs were the weirdest. I thought ZDT would be one of the top contenders for BP, but seeing as Bigelow isn’t up for Director I don’t think it will. I think it’ll be between Lincoln, Argo and Silver Linings.
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Gutted Tarantino didnt get a nomination for director, but beyond thrilled that De Niro is nominated after 21 years or so. So proud of Bobby!! 🙂
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Yes. A bit of a comeback for the acting god. Really looking forward to seeing Silver Linings.
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Glad to see Hugh Jackman gets a nom and yeah, the Academy must have a thing against DiCaprio and Nolan, I mean, not a single nom for TDKR??
As for Joaquin, I think it’s good that the Academy voters don’t take his comments personally and still nominated him on the merit of his work, but I wish John Hawkes got it instead.
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Agree on all counts. I’m surprised at the TDKR exclusion, too. I didn’t expect it to show up at the major categories. TDK didn’t so this obviously wouldn’t, but I expected at least of couple noms in the “minor” categories.
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I’m really disappointed The Master was excluded from Best Picture and Best Director, but it’s great to see that Amour got nominated.
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Yeah, that one got a very impressive showing. Lots of major categories.
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There weren’t really any surprises for me. I’m looking forward to the ceremony if only because MacFarlane will hopefully do an entertaining job.
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I hope he does. He was pretty good yesterday at the announcement.
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